Xander Schauffele fired a 7-under-par 64 in the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship, starting and finishing his day strong to take the early lead at the $20 million signature event Thursday in Charlotte, N.C.
Schauffele held a three-shot advantage at day’s end after Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, a three-time winner of this tournament, finished an up-and-down round with a bogey at the 18th hole. McIlroy settled for a 4-under 67, tied for second with Collin Morikawa and Sweden’s Alex Noren.
The 68-man field is playing four rounds without a cut at Quail Hollow Club in the sixth signature event of the season, which doubles as a tune-up for next week’s PGA Championship.
“I think playing a championship course is always a good thing before a major championship,” Schauffele said.
Schauffele started on the back nine and birdied five of his first eight holes before taking his only bogey of the day at No. 18. After a quiet start to the front nine, he threw a dart on his second shot at the par-5 seventh hole, his ball glancing the side of the cup for a would-be albatross before leaving him just 5 feet for eagle to get to 6 under.
Schauffele’s drive at No. 8 flew far right, but he managed to find his ball and was allowed to move non-embedded rocks out of his path before hitting his second shot onto the green.
“The volunteer was by the Shotlink tower and he said he heard it land in the hazard, so everyone’s kind of looking in the hazard,” Schauffele said. “Then Wyndham (Clark) and (caddie Austin Kaiser) kind of went further up and then they found the ball. Wyndham’s like, ‘I think that’s your ball,’ so kind of walked up, identified it and went from there.”
The 30-year-old followed that critical par save with a 6-foot birdie putt at No. 9 for a final flourish.
McIlroy’s highlight was a perfectly struck 50-foot eagle putt at No. 7 that gave him the solo lead at the time at 5 under. The rest of his day was a series of bogeys and bounce-back birdies until he failed to save par from 7 feet at No. 18.
“It was good to play a solid round of golf,” McIlroy said. “Left a couple out there, I feel, but at the same time I’ve got three more days to try to build on what I’ve done today.”
Noren had a back-nine run of three straight birdies, then stuck his approach shot at No. 18 just a foot from the hole for a late boost. Morikawa, meanwhile, was at 5 under after birdies at Nos. 5 and 7 but hit a bunker on his final hole, the ninth, and bogeyed to take a small step backward.
“Unfortunate to just kind of give away on the last hole,” Morikawa said. “It was a long day, and for the most part felt really good and gave myself some chances, made some putts and kept it really simple out there.”
Morikawa is one of many golfers with major championship pedigree trying to iron out their game before the PGA next week.
Justin Thomas shot a 3-under 68 with four birdies and one bogey to open his tournament. The two-time PGA champion — who hasn’t won a tournament of any kind since his 2022 PGA title — is tied for fifth with Russell Henley, Lee Hodges, Taylor Moore, Australia’s Jason Day, South Korea’s Sungjae Im and Austria’s Sepp Straka.
“It’s a lot of drivers and it’s a premium on hitting the fairways,” Thomas said. “I think it’s definitely a ball-striking course, so I like that aspect of it, that it kind of gets me in the mindset of very similar to how it will be next week. But yeah, in terms of what it does to (prepare him for the PGA), I guess it’s TBD.”
–Field Level Media
